Leave You Behind
by Ignoramus
Summary: Plot: The Doctor is determined to give his life for humanity, but is he doing the right thing, and does he love Rose too much to leave her? Please review my first fanfic! COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

Well, I've waited a long time to post this - my first ever foray into fanfiction! Here we go... before we start I'd like to make an honest and open plea for reviews. You must've heard this a million times before and I have no particular reason why you should listen to me I'm afraid - just type a few words if you feel like it. Right then, here we go:

LEAVE YOU BEHIND

CHAPTER 1

It was a stormy night in the outer reaches of the Solar System. The Doctor entered the Tardis carrying a large parcel and dripping wet. He took off his waterlogged coat, and looked around quickly. He spotted Rose asleep in a corner. Moving over to her, he stroked her hair briefly before crossing to the other side of the room and pulling out the psychic paper from his inside jacket pocket. Putting on his glasses, he slowly read the letter carefully printed on it, blinked twice, and read it again, before pacing the Tardis, deep in contemplation. The letter read:

THE GENESIS PROJECT

The Foundation and Innovation of the Future

Doctor, we approach you again on the same subject we did all those years ago. You are the only being in existance who will do for us, Doctor, as the last Time Lord still surviving. But it has been a long time since we last saw you. So, let me explain our proposition once again. Our technology has advanced far enough to conquer life over death, to manipulate the human mind, the strongest machine in the world. So we appeal to you again, Doctor, to become the centerpiece for our creation. Of course it would kill you, but think of the human race, Doctor. Your beloved species, happy and carefree. We could negotiate, Doctor. We could save the Time Lords, regenerate every single one. Think about it.

However, should you decide to come, you must be completely alone. No-one could be permitted to come with you. If you were caught, you would lead us all to our deaths. We are a radical organisation, Doctor, fugitives hiding for our own people, who have sentenced all of us to death. They, too, have failed to see the potential of our ideas. But I know someone as intelligent as you, Doctor, will understand. Come to us, Doctor. Give us a chance. But remember - come completely alone. You have exactly 24 hours to respond.

Awaiting your presence,  
The Project

He paced for a long, long time while Rose slept, a tear or two occasionally falling down his face. By morning, however, he had made his decision. Rose walked into the control room as the Doctor busily flicked switches, changing the direction of the Tardis.

"Did you miss me?"

He gave her a smile that was, somehow, more tender than usual. "Rose, we're going back to Planet Earth. I...er...have to drop you off for a while. Business with an alien planet, you know, gamma screening, no humans allowed. I'll stop by the Powell Estate, you can see your mum for a bit, eh?"

With an almost apologetic smile, he bent closely over the controls, but not before Rose caught the look of pleading, pity and fear in his eyes.

"Doctor - something's wrong. I just know it. Why won't you tell me?" She grabbed hold of his hand and looked into his eyes.

"You're going to do something dangerous. I can feel it."

And the Doctor couldn't bear it anymore. He slowly got out his sonic screwdriver, and prodded it, so gently, into the back of her head. Rose's eyes closed immediately and she fell into his arms, sound asleep. The Doctor laid her down on the floor of the Tardis, Then, he crossed the room and pressed a button on the Tardis mainframe.

The Tardis landed with a bump, causing the Doctor to glance anxiously at Rose. Seeing she was still asleep, he carried her out of the Tardis door and set her down in a dry corner. He kissed he gently on the forehed and placed the sonic screwdriver, the psychic paper and a letter on the floor next to her.

"Goodbye, darling Rose," he whispered, before going back inside the Tardis and disappearing with a whirring noise and a blinding flash of blue light.

Rose suddenly woke up from her trance. Looking around in confusion, she noticed the paper, screwdriver and letter on the floor.

"Ohhh, my head. What happened? Doctor? Where are you?"

Slowly, she put the things in her pockets, and looked around her. She looked around her estate, the whole place pouring with rain and looking even more bedraggled than usual. No-one was around - the place was absoloutley deserted. Remembering the brief conversation she had had with the Doctor, she took out the letter and examined it. On the front was inscribed, "My dear Rose" in the Doctor's scrawling handwriting. The seal on the back bore the letters; SWALK.

"Sealed With A Loving Kiss - it's what my mum always used to make me write on my letters. How did he know?"

The envelope and paper looked old, creased, battered. Unfolding the paper, Rose read the letter:

"Rose,  
By now you've probably guessed what has happened. The concussion shot will leave you with headaches all round for half an hour but after that you'll be right as rain. I've dropped you back at home, Rose. I'm so sorry I didn't install an emergency protocol on the Tardis but there was no time. Sit down. I owe at least that much to you - I'm gonna explain EVERYTHING..."

There on the page was the contract with Gemini, re-printed carefully word for word. She read it silently, completely emotionless but numb to the core.

"I had to go, Rose. I couldn't have done anything else. The chance to save the world - well, it's what I've hoped for my entire life. I couldn't refuse. If I do this, you're whole world, your whole universe will exist in total harmony. Imagine it, Rose. Free from the pressures of ordinary life. If I could achieve anything in this life it would be to give you and the entire human race the chance to live in a perfect world. I'm sorry I messed it up for you - I could have taken you to so many places, but everywhere I go, I just get you into trouble, don't I? Maybe GENESIS was right - maybe it's time to end it."

"Anyway, I hope you don't regret the time you spent with me and the Tardis. It's always been my nemesis - the fact that I couldn't do more. You have to be cruel to be kind, Rose. In my life I've done so much I regret, all in a futile attempt to bring good out of it. Here, take the psychic paper and my sonic screwdriver. Keep them as a rememberance of me, but remember, that's all they are. Don't try and use them against yourself, Rose. You don't understand the power they contain. They'll destroy you - I'm seroius. You'll be safe here."

"If you want to do something for me, Rose, just remember me. Don't try to forget me - if you don't hate me, that is. The screwdriver and psychic paper are yours - if the Earth ever needs saving, you're in charge now. May they do you as much good as they did me. And if I ever meant anything in my 900 years - and that's a long time - I mean this now: I will never forget you, Rose."

The Doctor

Next to that was scrawled a name, presumably the Doctor's first, in glyphs Rose couldn't quite make out, however hard she tried. She stared at the paper, in a trance, and read the letter again. Then, she crumpled to the ground, the paper still clutched in her hand.

"Doctor - how could I ever hate you?" she whispered.

And after that, the onlly sound on the deserted estate was the pattering of falling rain, and the only sight to see was a young lady slumped in a corner, crying heartbreaking, silent tears.


	2. Chapter 2

Here's Chapter 2. I won't beg you to review this time...

CHAPTER 2

One a one-way journey to the Genesis galaxy, the Doctor looked haggard and worn. He hadn't slept in days, he hadn't eaten, and there were faint traces of red around his eyes from those nights when the memories and tears threatened to overwhelm him again. He went over to a window and looked out at the brilliant stars, cosmos dust and asteroids all moving in space. A shooting star! But no-one to share it with, he realised. The Tardis was worried about him - he knew that, he could feel her sorrow. But he told himself, he had no choice. It had to be done. With a determined look on his face, he walked to the radar map and saw his destination in front of him - the planet of Genesis. An Arcadia, it seemed to him. A planet of the gods. As the Tardis touched down on the planet surface, he shrugged on his overcoat and was about to leave his ship when he heard it speak to him. It hardly ever did that, preferring to show emotion and opinion through gestures. But when it did, calling him by his real name, he knew something was really wrong.

"Theta, be careful."

The Tardis knew what he was doing, didn't she? How could she tell him to be careful? In his confusion, he managed a last broken smile before looking around him for the final time and stepping out of the Tardis door.

He stepped out into what seemed like a bloodbath. It was a cruel massacre, as beings seemingly composed entirely of light in white suits terrorized large groups of hunchbacked dwarves running desperately on treadmills, clothed in black, with whips and red-hot irons. Their screams rang out over the huge compound. As the Doctor looked around at all of this, confused, five people of light walked up behind him. One of them spoke,

"Doctor, you have arrived. Let us lead you to our base."

Horrified, the Doctor objected.

"No, wait, you can't do this to these people. Stop this now, it's torture"  
"If you will not come with us now, we will take you by force"  
"I DEMAND YOU TO STOP THIS NOW!"

With that, thick vines made again of white light enveloped him. Impossibly strong, they seemed to be alive as they wriggled around him and tightened the harder he struggled.

"You will walk"  
"I"  
"You will walk" definitley more pronounced this time. The Doctor was furious.  
"NO I WON'T"  
And suddenley he was drowned in a sea of blinding whiteness and he knew no more.

From her flat in the Powell estate, Jackie Tyler decided to brave the pouring rain in order to dash to the corner shop for some digestives. Muttering curses about the rain, she donned a yellow fluorescent mac and went outside.

On the estate compound, she stared in total shock at the sight before her. The Tardis was here, in a corner, and sitting outside it on the floor was Rose, her daughter, crying her heart out with a scrap of paper clutched in her hand.

"Oh my God... you don't see that every day" muttered Jackie.

"Sweetheart - what happened? Where's the Doctor?" Jackie bent over her daughter, trying to find out what was wrong.

"Oh Mum..." And with that, Rose was sobbing in her arms. The mother and daughter stayed there for some time, just like that, before finally Jackie got Rose to her feet and led her inside. It was time for a nice cup of tea, with or without the digestives.

The Doctor awoke and gingerley opened one eye. He closed it immediately with a curse as raw pain shot through his skull. After waiting awhile, he took a deep breath, opened both eyes and looked around him. He was in a square-shaped room that resembled an office and was completely white, apparantly bound to a chair on one side of a desk. Opposite him, a being of light, this time with a black band around its head, noticed he had come to.

"Doctor, you are awake. We are glad you accepted our offer. At last, we have the chance to use your intelligence for our... the good of all life." The being finished quickly.

"So you are the members of the Project. Who are you? Who were those people outside, in the compound? You tortured them! No-body deserves that."

He heard a cruel laugh. "I and my kind are Spectres, Doctor, and yes, we authorise this Project. As for our slaves which you mentioned, I would hardly condescend to call them 'people', Doctor. They are merely cattle. A herd race, working for us."

The Doctor's mind whirled. Working for them? The Spectres, as far as he had learned from Time Lord lore, were a self-sufficent race. so why would they need to colonize another species as slaves? Unless... they required extra energy. But what for? He remembered the reason he was here. The last Time Lord. The last supreme power of intelligence in the Universe. That had to have something to do with it.

He pulled himself out of his reverie with difficulty as the Spectre continued.

"But we digress, Doctor. Let us move on to why we are here. Are you prepared to impart your intelligence to us?"

The Doctor stared, absoloutely furious at the Spectres' calousness. He had always been incredibly human, he mused. He had an incredible amount of emotion - that had always suprised him.

The Doctor roared at the Spectre. "A herd race? Those were living things! I will not allow this cruelty. You face the highest authority in the universe, and by my power I will not sacrifice my life to a planet of torture and destruction. I demand you to stop this now!"

The Spectre watched him bemusedly before turning his head to press a button on the wall.

"So be it."

Tied down to his chair, the Doctor heard a mechanical whirring behind him as five metal tentacles slowly extended out of the back of his chair, moving upwards until they were positioned facing the back of his neck, only around half a metre away. As the Doctor listened, the tentacles lengthened, tapering out into sharp, needle-like points. Suddenly, there was silence. The Doctor stopped struggling and forced himself to gradually relax.

"Is that all?"

Suddenly, with an electric surge, the five tentacles reared back and shot simultaneously into the back of the Doctor's neck, creating five needle punctures. Before he could move, the Spectre cranked a lever and watched as yellow fluid soared down the tentacles and was injected into his neck. The Doctor's screaming faded as he slumped unconscious in his chair. The Spectre clicked his fingers and the servant race led him away.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

Waking up for the second time in a few hours, the Doctor found himself stretched out on a hospital trolley, free of any physical impediments but still paralysed. They had injected him with a strong drug - clearly he had another hour or so to wait before the drug was washed out of his system. Already his body was pespiring rapidly, trying to rid him of the foreign substance as quickly as possible.

Three Spectres in white masks approached his bed, followed by the one he had spoken to earlier, with the black band still around his head. The Doctor recognised that band as a symbol of authority, so was unsuprised when that Spectre spoke first.

"Doctor, we are severely disappointed. We had hoped to convince you that our mission was genuine, that you might break down the barriers in your head. That's why we gave you chances to come to us willingly, with those letters. Did you not wonder why we sent them? We wanted you on our side. But we are running out of time, Doctor. If you had not come we would have been forced to kidnap you. You know that if we enter your mind with those barriers in place, you will be rendered brain-dead before we can extract enough vital information, and it will be far more painful for you."

The Doctor was about to retort when he noticed that the drug did not extend to his mouth - he could speak - and that the Spectre was bluffing. He knew that Time Lord psycology is complex and almost impossible for other species to understand. With his mental barriers, he would suffer severe pain, but he knew the Spectres would be unable to enter his mind at all. That's why they were so desperate to appear genuine, he realised, gaining the upper hand. They needed his consent!

"Therefore, our council has rendered that action non-viable. The only option left to you, Doctor, is to submit. Break down your mental barriers - only you have the power. You can see that, can't you? Answer me, Doctor!"

The Spectre was getting desperate, the masked attendants looking on anxiously. Probably keen to impress the boss, the Doctor thought wryly. Well, he had no intention of agreeing to the boss' demands. And if he made it angry, so much the better. It would buy him some time, he thought. Time to find out how to get out of here, and to solve that mystery of the necessary herd race and why they were there.

No beating around the bush, thought the Doctor. "No."

"What? Is that your final decision, Doctor?"

The Doctor didn't know much about Spectre psycology, but he could see he was close to pushing this one over the edge, and since he was obviously in charge, he was interested to observe the consequences.

"Yes, it is. My final decision." he retorted defiantly, sticking his tongue out at them for good measure.

Infuriated, the Spectre made his final decision. Now it was pefectly clear. He had decided to take a huge risk - leave the Doctor in a room he couldn't escape from, and then target his weakness. He desperately needed to somehow get rid of the Doctor's mental barriers. He knew the Doctor was old now - he had lived beyond 900 years - so torture wouldn't work. No matter how much agony he exposed him to, the Doctor wouldn't crack. He was clever enough to use his hate to further strengthen the fortress of his mind. But Genesis knew the Doctor well - they had studied him for millenia. They knew the only way to get at him was to get at his pet species - the human race, and his companian with them. If he sent the entire army as an invasion force to destory Planet Earth - and he knew it had to be the whole army; the Earth was very well defended against aliens now - there was a chance the Doctor would be so devastated he would give in. He would stop trying to hold up his mental barriers. It was a small chace, but all he could think of doing.

And if he did try to escape - well, the drug injected into him earlier had a special substance mixed in, unknown to the Doctor. Sort of like a dormant cyanide. It would be activated the minute he left the planet's atmosphere, killing him within ten minutes. Bits of Time Lord splattered all over the universe. Whopee, thought the Spectre. He had had quite enough with the Doctor. He was more trouble than he was worth. But one thing was for sure - Spectres did not like failure. He knew he would never stop trying. He'd had quite enough with universe domination, but he was still just as determined to get the Doctor if he possibly could.

The Spectre turned away from the Doctor and began pushing buttons and flicking switched on a wall console. Unnerved by his lack of response, the Doctor attempted conversation, but the Spectre ignored him completely, speaking instead into a walkie-talkie.

"Send all troups - yes, every single unit. This needs to be perfect. Destination: Earth. And seal the Ante-chamber. Quarantine the entire Genesis office."

The Doctor spluttered, "But... you can't destroy Earth! They don't deserve it - whatever I've done to you is my responsibility. Please. Don't do this. And how can you quarantine this building? You're sealing yourselves in!

"Oh, are we Doctor?" The Spectre fingered the black headband he wore. They would come back after the Earth was destroyed to see the impact on the Doctor.

"Say goodbye to Ms. Tyler - when we attack Earth, we will make sure she is the first to suffer..." With that, the Spectre pressed a button on the band and he and all his servants vanished.

The Doctor slumped against the wall and slid down it onto the floor, his head in his hands.

"Rose..." he sobbed, so quietly it was impossible to hear.

It was then that he heard a voice, echoey and distant, but clearly audible.

"Theta." 


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

In her mother's living room, Rose collapsed in an armchair, holding a steaming mug, with Jackie sitting next to her. In a sort of exhausted trance, Rose painfully explained how the Doctor had left her. By the end of it, Jackie was fuming.

"That man! I'm gonna kill him! Does he even realise what he's done to my daughter? Oooh... when I get my hands on him..." Her rant continued for some time, the Doctor receiving every human curse Jackie knew, until she was interrupted.

"Mum... I don't think you'll be able to get your hands on him... he's dead." She explained the contents of her letter, concerning the Genesis project. Some of the Doctor's feelings she kept to herself, however. Some things were just too personal to share. Jackie sat and stared silently at the floor.

"Oh..." She was broken off by a knock at the door. Anxious to have something to do, Rose stood up.

"I'll go and get that."

Jackie nodded and went to the kitchen to make more tea.

On opening the door, Rose was suprised to see a stocky man of average height, wearing very dusty clothes that were covered in paint and a hard hat. She gave him a bewildered stare.

"'Ello sweetheart, who are you then?"

"...Rose Tyler." She responded cautiously.

"Blimey, you're Jackie's daughter! Come 'ome from travelling, eh? Listen darling, you should come home more often, she worries about you an awful lot, she does. Thinks the world of you though..."

Unused to total strangers greeting her so enthusiastically on her doorstep, Rose decided it was time she enlightened herself.

"Who are you?"

The builder laughed. "Me? I'm Harold, that's who. Now could you let me in, dearie? I'm sure Jackie's pleased to see me."

Rose opened the door further and let Harold in. Moving into the living room, she hurried into the kitchen and opened the door.

"Mum... there' a bloke called Harold waiting in the lounge... who is he?"

"Harold... oh!"

Jackie entered the living room only to be picked up by Harold, who gave her a huge hug and planted kisses on both her cheeks. Rose watched, fearing for her own sanity. Eventually Harold put Jackie down on the carpet.

"Jacks - good to see you! My shift's done, so I'm here for the rest of the day." With that, he slumped himself on the sofa and switched the telly on.

"Mum!" Rose hissed. Jackie looked at her.

"Come and help me with the tea, Rose." she said. "Harold? Fancy a cuppa?"

Upon Harold's acceptance, Rose followed Jackie into the kitchen, closing the door behind her.

"Mum - there's a strange man sitting in our living room - who the hell is he?"

Jackie looked affronted. "It's only Harold, dear - works down the local building site. Used to work at the fruit stall in the market, don't you remember?"

Recalling this man, the one who kept fruit in his dressing gown, Rose laughed.

Jackie continued. "Well, he lives here now. Got somewhere to come home to. And he keeps me company, what with you being away eleven months out of the twelve."

Rose visibly shuddered at the mention of her travels, and Jackie's expression softened.

"I didn't mean that. Come on, Rose, let's take the tea in."

In the living room, Harold had found a decent film on television and Rose and Jackie sat down with him to watch it. As Rose sat down, a message appeared on the television screen.

The voiceover sounded strangely emotional. "We interrupt this broadcast to bring you an urgent news warning. It has been confirmed, today, that alien life has invaded the British Isles."

Amateur video footage suddenly appeared on the screen, apparantly from Central London. Huge mushroom-like vehicles were zooming through the air, emitting large clouds of green smoke. The camera shook as an explosion occured in the near vicinity. More footage on the Underground, where no-one could see. The Houses of Parliament were apparantly on fire, and several senior politicians appeared stranded on the roof. Someone had written an SOS in Hyde Park using ketchup. The centre of London appeared to be in absoloute chaos. The voiceover seemed to be having hysterics as she narrated the terrible pictures.

"We are being attacked by what is apparantly an alien force, the main army of which has landed opposite Big Ben. Negotiations have begun with the Prime Minister and members of the UN after the aliens informed them that they had landed in London with the intention of capturing Rose Tyler, and I quote: "She will be the first one to suffer." Ms. Tyler, if you are there, give yourself up."

The commentary resumed, but Jackie, Harold and Rose all ignored it. Jumping out of our chair, Rose ran for the door.

"Mum, we've got to get to Westminister - NOW!"

"Sweetheart - are you mad? You'll get yourself killed. We need to hide!"

"The Doctor told me, in his letter, that if the Earth needs saving, I'm in charge Mum. And that's exactly what I'm gonna be. Someone's gotta save the planet!"

Jackie beamed with pride at her daughter, and Rose grinned, glad she had her mother's approval. She turned to Harold.

"Public transport's gonna be down, so have you got a car, or a truck or something?"

"Well, my Mini's being repaired, but there is the haulage company van-"

"Perfect!"

They all ran out of the front door, and onto the street. People who had seen the broadcast were running down the road towards them, angry expressions on their faces.

"Uh-oh..." Rose muttered.

"What're we gonna do?" screamed Jackie, nearing hysterics.

"RUN!" Rose grabbed Jackie's and Harold's hands and sprinted with them down backstreets and alleways, towards the haulage company carpark. By the time they arrived, they had lost the crowd and were now across the road from the carpark.

"Harold, sneak in, grab the van and straight back out, got it?"

Unused to sneaking, Harold managed a stuttered, "I... think so," before setting off to get the van. Rose and Jackie waited in agonising silence for several minutes that felt like hours before they heard tyres on the road and, with a squeal of the brakes, Harold's van skidded to a halt next to them.

Harold looked pleased. "Get in, you lot."

Rose shook her head in amazement. She couldn't believe she was about to save the world in a battered truck, covered in paint and graffiti, with the standard "Pete and Co. Haulage Company" "A busy truck is a happy truck" on it. It was crazy. But crazy was a constant once the Doctor had touched your life, Rose mused. She leapt into the front seat and slammed the door. 


	5. Chapter 5

Well, here it is, my favourite chapter so far. Do you do dedications here on I don't know. Anyway, I'd like to dedicate this chapter top Mazza, aka. Xxdoctorwho28fanxX, for sticking by me, even when I wan't on this site, and for being my first ever review. Thank you. Right, the chapter. Please enjoy:

CHAPTER 5

On the motorway to Westminister, Rose was just beginning to get over the travel-sickness. This was worse than being in the Tardis, she thought. She couldn't think how Harold had gotten his driving liscence - he was the worst driver she had ever seen. Skidding through the streets with squealing brakes, flat tyres with no tread, and a horn that had got stuck halfway down the M5, they weren't exactly camouflaged. You could've heard them coming a mile off. Well, they had lost the element of surprise, but maybe the alien horde would be deafened by the time they arrived. Rose's ears were beginning to feel numb. Things, could be worse, she thought. At least I'm not in as bad a state as Mum.

Jackie was in a sorry state. With only two seats in the truck, Rose needed to be in the front to occasionally grab the wheel from Harold when danger loomed and point him in roughly the right direction, using an A to Z they found in the glove compartment that had half the pages missing. They had had no other option but to tie Jackie firmly to the back of the truck, where the furniture was usually kept. Unfortunately, however, the rope had snapped, and so the thuds and screams as they swerved tight corners left them in no doubt as to Jackie's opinion of this ride. They could literally hear her sliding from one end of the long storage cart to the other, attracting a great deal of attention from the few people on the street who clearly thought they were mad.

Harold was now zooming through the streets of Westminister, past all the posh London shops and cafes, and hurrying towards the looming Houses of Parliament. Rose could see it's outline not far off in the distance, and the mushroom-clouds looming above it - but then...

"Oh - " Here followed a rally of expletives from Harold, who couldn't believe Rose had read the map wrong. "Rose - we're on the wrong side of the Thames!"

"What?" Rose craned her neck, and saw it was true. A large expanse of water seperated them from the alien horde, who were looking more menacing by the minute. "But - but - we can't be!"

"We are. YOU must have read the map wrong."

Rose decided not to argue with Harold. Now, she told hersself firmly, was not the time.

"Where's London Bridge?"

Harold consulted the map. "A few miles downstream."

Rose squinted across the river. The aliens had managed to take the entire building hostage, and were pointing huge fearsome weapons at politician's throats. It didn't look good.

"We don't have time to get there! We've gotta do something now!"

Harold suddenly ran off, ignoring Rose's questioning yell. He had had an idea. A motorboat was lying a few miles downstream. It was one of the tourist boats that chugged happily up and down the river, but now it was, unsuprisingly, deserted. He doubted anyone would care if he stole it. After all, no-one had pulled him up for his terrible driving earlier. He made up his mind, and got into the boat. He cautiously started the engines, and the boat revved off at high speed towards Jackie and Rose.

Rose had helped Jackie to get out of the truck, and then to stand up. She was now leaning against Rose, glaring at the truck and looking very pale. Suddenly, they were all drenched in a torrent of muddy water. Shaking her head like a dog, Rose looked up and saw Harold sitting in the pilot seat of a small tourist boat. He beamed at her.

"Alright, come on now, get in you two. Don't have much time and all that..."

Rose ran up to him and hugged him hard. "Harold, that's amazing! Let's go!"

She bundled Jackie in and jumped aboard. With a furious roar, the motorboat kicked into gear and the three shot off across the river. Within 30 seconds, Rose had changed her mind. There was something worse than Harold driving a truck. Harold driving a boat. As he was frequently yelling incoherently about steering, she was guessing he'd never driven one in his life, it was going at 90 miles an hour, and Rose turned her had in time to see Jackie being violently sick over the side. Rose looked over at the Houses of Parliament and was amazed to see that the aliens had actually halted their seizing of the Houses of Parliament and were staring open-mouthed at the spectacle they were creating on the river.

The boat zig-zagged dizzyingly from side to side and within minutes it became clear that Harold was loosing control. As the boat's speed increased further, they had almost reached the other side when Harold panicked.

"The steering's gone!" he yelled.

Rose snorted. She doubted if there had ever been any steering. However, all thoughts of amusement were banished when she found they were heading staright for a large statue erected on the water. Harold let go of the handles.

"JUMP!" he screamed as the boat crashed into the statue.

Rose managed to dive free just in time, and took in a deep breath as the water engulfed her. She could hear Jackie screaming that she couldn't swim, and the stupid motorboat. With an exasperated sigh, she struck out for the shore, ready to meet her adversaries.

Making it to the other side, Rose clambered onto the bank, wet through and exhausted. She stood up shakily and shook the water out of her hair. She stood up as tall as she possibly could, and intoned, "I represent Planet Earth, and - "

Suddenly, she noticed the absoloute silence all around her. The hostages, the politicians, the aliens - they were all staring at her in absoloute shock.

"What? It's very rude to stare, you know!"

The aliens all stared at her for several seconds before bursting simultaneously into laughter. Rose tried to look affronted, when she actually felt frankly terrified. It wasn't easy.

"What's funny?"

One of the aliens suddenly pointed to the crown of his mushroom-shaped head. In confusion, Rose reached up to the top of her head, and pulled out - a frog. She had a frog on her head. Emerald green and ribbiting at her.

Great, thought Rose. Try to make an impression on an alien invasion force, and what do you get? A frog on your head. Typical. She had been jolted across London in a haulage truck, across the river in a motorboat, and had just made it to the middle of London - and the alien threat she was supposed to intimidate... was laughing at her.

I'd like to make my customary plea for reviews here - I know loads of you have viewed my story - thank you all very much. But if any of you drop just a couple of words, it'd make my day. You have the power to make me smile. I don't care how short it is. Thank you.


	6. Chapter 6

Here's Chapter 6, guys - I'm sorry it diverts a bit from the plot, but I wanted to put Rose in the Doctor's position and have a bit of fun with her. I will seriously return to the main plot next chapter. Keep reviewing, can I thank Xxdoctorwho28fanxX, blackhairdye, daffodilTARDIS, I-Confuse-Everyone, and Cacunai. Thank you for reading and reviewing.

CHAPTER 6

In time, the alien guffaws faded to giggles, and just the occasional chuckle, then - nothing. Rose's stony glare had eventually worn them down. You just couldn't laugh through it. Well, at least I got something right, thought Rose. Must've inherited that from my mother. Praise be to genetics! Oh my god... I'm sounding like... like the Doctor.

Saying his name was painful, even now, but Rose knew now was not the time to break down.

Suddenly there was a splash from the bank a few metres away, and everyone looked over in time to see Harold explode from the water, carrying a bedraggled Jackie in his arms. The resemblance to Superman was amazing, and all the women tried their best not to gawp at him.

Harold must work out, thought Rose approvingly.

"Harold! You're alright!"

"Yup - I'm always alright, me!"

Setting Jackie down on the ground, Harold steeped back, then had to run in and catch Jackie as she swayed alarmingly where she stood. It was clear Jackie wasn't going to be doing very much after her ordeal.

"Alright," said Rose, trying to take control of the situation, while the alien horde was still confused.

"Harold, if you could look after Mum over there..." She gestured to a patch of dry land in the far corner under a tree, where she hoped any missiles the aliens tried to shot wouldn't land.

Watching Harold traipse off into the distance, Rose prepared to face the alien horde for - what was it? - the third time. It wasn't to be, however. Rose heard a furious rev, and suddenley everyone sprinted away from the shore. Too late, Rose realised what it was.

"Oh no - the boat - ARGH!"

The motorboat had exploded into that water feature, thanks to Harold's driving, and while the entire top had shattered from the impac, the boat's anchor had cought on to the base, forcing the motorboat to zoom around it in circles. The rusty anchor had soon broken, however, sending what was a harmless little tourist trap on a collosion course of death, directly at the group on the bank by the Houses of Parliament. Various assorted debris, including several disgruntled fish, were also being centrifuged at 90 miles per hour down the Thames.

As the boat rushed by, it sent out yet another torrent of water, drenching Rose for the second time that day. Now, no female Tyler can ever stand getting covered in muddy water like that, with no prospect of a hot shower, and Rose was really getting mad. She heard a wet squelch, and looking down, she noticed that in her fury, she had been squeezing the frog far too hard, and it's eyeballs were practically popping out of their sockets. She lessened her hold guiltily, then had an idea. A brainwave, even. Rose knew she had to stop that motorboat, otherwise she and the other innocent civilians were never going to get any peace again. She looked at the frog once more, and tested her aim. She had to do it now, and her shot had to be perfect. With a loud battle cry, she hurled the frog straight at the motorboat!

The frog closed it's eyes in terror as it hurtled through the air, however instead of landing on the power button as Rose had intended, it missed by centimetres and landed with a splat on the brake lever. It clung on to the end of the lever for dear life, and as the lever was loose from the constant jiggling at 90 mph, it slowly bent backwards. Rose could soon see the motorboat starting to slow, and she cheered the frog on for dear life. A few minutes later, the motorboat finally ground to a halt, and Rose stopped cheering. The alien horde were looking at her, completely bemused. In truth, they had never seen ANYTHING like this in all their field assignments. Something had to be wrong. Was this a practical joke or something?

Silence reigned yet again, and Rose experienced immense frustration.

"Can't a girl save the world in peace anymore?"

The aliens finally seemed to regain comprehension of the situation. Here was a little girl, covered in mud, trying to save the world... in peace? Now, they couldn't let that happen. The kitchen staff would be jeering at them for weeks on end.

The mushroom-head, as Rose liked to think of them, who was obviously in charge held a large black and fearsome-looking weapon at the Prime Minister's throat. Absoloutely terrified, Rose decided to give things a try anyway.

"Right, as I was saying..." She cleared her throat in an attempt to hide the tremble in her voice.

" I represent Planet Earth, and I demand that you let these people go!"

The mushroom-head leader spoke up in a husky and ego-centric Latin American accent.

"Or what - you'll throw a frog at me?" His companions roared with laughter, and Rose was enraged. What she wouldn't give to slap that guy senseless. But she didn't fancy getting herself killed just yet.

"Or...or... I'll use this!" She yelled suddenely, her eyes lighting up as she delved into her jacket pocket and produced the Doctor's sonic screwdriver.

The aliens all stared at the screwdriver. "What is that?" One of them asked. "A potato masher?"

"NO!" Rose was ingidnant. "It's a sonic screwdriver, and if you don't let all these people go now, and more importantly LEAVE, I'll ram this up your ass using setting... 682D - and that won't be pretty." She finished. She didn't have a clue about setting 682D, she just hoped it worked when the time came.

She heard a slow, mocking laugh from behind her. The alien squad commander, or whatever he was called, had painfully tied the Prime Minister to a tree and softly crept behind her. She whirled around as he pulled the firecest looking weapon from his belt. It looked kinda like a blak chainsaw, thought Rose. But it was huge - almost as tall as she was. The alien, who must've been around 7' 5'', had difficulty holding it upright. He turned, pointing the thing at wrought iron lamppost. He pressed a button, and a hatch opened, Jets of white-hot flames spewed out suddenley, vaporising the lamppost within seconds. The light was so bright Rose had to look away, but when she opened her eyes, the lamppost had completely disappeared. In it's place was a cloud of raidioactive ash that drifted away into the breeze.

It's owner chuckled, "Little lady, if you use that - I use this."

As always, please read and review. I can't tell you how much I appreciate them.


	7. Chapter 7

I know, I know - it's short, a little cliched and incredibly complicated, but it's actually the basis for the second part of this series that I always planned after this one. I really hope people can actually understand this - it took me a while to get things clear in my head, like Harry Potter I guess. The little verse I made up is rubbish, but it gets to the point and it will have to do. Knowing me, there will be continuity errors, so I am relying on you to point those out. Alright, here we go:

CHAPTER 7

"Theta." The voice called him again. The Doctor was now almost sure he heard the Tardis. Sitting bolt upright, he cautiously, allowed himself to transmit down their telepathic link. This didn't happen very often.

"Yes - it's me."

"Theta, do you remember what happened on the Game Station?" She hardly needeed to ask - Theta snorted in spite of himself.

"Of course I do! How could I forget-"

The Tardis interrupted him, sounding reproving. "That event had greater consequences than you know. Many things happened that day, and one of them is probably about to save your skin. Now button it, and listen up."

The Doctor stared. Had she actually said that?

The Tardis heard his thoughts, and chuckled to herself. Coming down the link it sounded like a wire short-circuiting, or very bad static.

"On that day, Rose looked into the Time Vortex. Now, no-one has ever done that before. No-one. Ever. The Vortex was overflowing after all those millenia, so as the prophecy foretold, a part of the vortex became Rose Tyler from the moment she looked into it. Her whole life long she has had that capacity in her to do such a great thing - she is Bad Wolf. It had lain inside her, dormant for 19 years of her life, until it was activated by the Vortex. Did you never wonder why she seemed perfectly suited to life on board the Tardis, like no other being before her? No ordinary human could ever have done that."

"Wait - there was a prophecy? About Rose?"

The Tardis laughed again. "Not just about Rose. Haven't you ever heard the 'Story of Creation'? Stanza 7, Verse 5."

"But that - that's just a kid's tale!"

"Not Stanza 7, Verse 5. It's the very last part of the rhyme, the one that takes days to recite, and it was put there by the Face of Boe for a reason."

"The Face of Boe?" Things were starting to get too complicated.

"Yes, I knew him as a child. Such an interesting boy." The Tardis commented wryly.

"But don't interrupt. As I was saying, the very last stanza was put there for a reason. Listen."

And the Tardis solemnly recited the following:

The future holds bleak, for our home, in the War of Time,  
As death looms, Gallifrey is lost and only one remains,  
The Lonely God,  
Soon he will be joined, by the destined traveller, The Bad Wolf,  
The little girl who does not fear the Vortex.  
Together they travel, for upon her change, their futures are entwined for eternity.  
The Healer and the Wolf, together through countless centuries.  
And so the future of our race will be restored.

"... I remember now... the Lonely God?"

"Bo portrays you in a favourable light, as you can see."

"But what does this have to do with anything..."

"Don't you see? When she took in the Vortex, Rose became a part of me - she controls me and I feel her like no other. When she took in the vortex, she commanded that I keep you safe, no matter what the cost. In her desperation at the time, a fragment of Bad Wolf was channelled into the vortex, and she demanded that I use it, when your most wanted and needed to be saved. So I am coming - I sense Rose is in danger, we don't have much time."

"But-" There were a million questions whizzing through the Doctor's head.

"Theta - not now! I'll answer everything later - right now we have to get Rose."

With that, the Tardis shut down their link as a twinkling yellow light appeared in the corner. The Doctor shut his eyes as the light rapidly grew stronger until the whole room was illuminated. Suddenley, in a shower of golden rain, the Tardis materialised. The Doctor ran up to the Tardis and hugged her before running inside and yelling for joy.

"Yeehah! That's my girl. OK, where's Rose gotten to?"

The screen flashed green and gave him the location. The Doctor paled as he remembered the Spectre invasion force.

"The Houses of Parliament it is - I have a feeling the Earth won't have surrendered yet and knowing Rose, she's probably got something to do with it."

They left the building, and within seconds they had left the planet. Immediately upon leaving, the Doctor clutched his head, yeeling in pain. Within one minute, he was collapsed on the Tardis mainframe. As the Tardis shot as fast as possible towards Earth, she wondered frantically if she could get to Earth in time to save him.

I'm sorry - I know it was bad! I promise you it DOES get better.


	8. Chapter 8

Right, Chapter 8. The height of the plot, I suppose. If you understand this then you've basically got the whole story in the bag. It's unlikely that you WILL understand, though. I'm useless at explaining. Heh. After this, you should finally see Doc and Rose as a pair, in every sense of the word, mashing the bad guys and being absoloutely invicible. As always, I hope you enjoy enough to leave a line or two.

CHAPTER 8

Rose put her hands on her hips. She ignored the commotion behind her as a few humans spontaneously fainted at the sight of the leader's killing machine, her mind entirely focused on buying her some time. She quickly stowed the screwdriver away. It was obviously not gonna be any use now, and might just get her out of a tricky escape situation. Like the Doctor said... it was very good at opening doors...

"So... tell me about this... weapon... thing."

Their leader beamed, delighted to have been asked. "Only one of it's kind in the universe. It has seven functions - slices, dices, explodes, mashers, castrates - he winced -, vaporises and turns you into a 3X3 foot cube - that's the large mallet atatchment. AND - as an added bonus - it contains my pet."

He opened the flame-hatch he had used earlier, and invited Rose to take a peek inside.

"Say hello... to Flamer." A little red dragon was concealed in the hach - when it saw Rose it winked one large yellow eye. The leader dangled a beef-steak through the hatch.

"Who's a good likkle dragon, eh?"

Rose rolled her eyes, entirely confused now. The alien invasion commander kept a pet in his machine gun? At that point, the commander decided he'd had enough playing. With one large claw, he pinned Rose to a tree and pointed his gun at her, all in one fluid movement.

"Hasta la vista, Earthling!" Rose closd her eyes in terror, knowing she was about to die.

It was then that she heard a roar behind her, and saw Harold, more furious than she had ever seen him, come charging at the mushroom-head leader with full force, a piece of twisted metal in his hand. Caught off guard, Rose saw the commander flinch. Harold ran at him and knocked the weapon out of his hands.

"Don't you DARE hurt her!" he roared.

Harold's action appeared to spark a reaction in all the people on the riverbank, and pretty soon all the politicians were fighting the aliens with whatever they could find - broken bottles, large poles, fishing nets. A furious brawl emerged as it appeared many of the alien guns had broken. The water from the Thames was apparantly fatal to alien hardware, and any that had come into contact with it were deadened immediately. Half the horde were left with large, black clubs instead of chainsaws. Loud battle cries of "Long live the Spectral army!" rang out through the field. OK, so they weren't mushroom-heads.

Rose was disappointed. She'd hoped for a little more banter so she could buy them a little time to think up a plan to save everyone, but it was too late. She realised that not everyone was gonna survive this, and ducked for cover.

A few metres away, Harold was having the time of his life. He was easily the best human fighter on the field, and he finally realised what he had been put on this Earth to do. All those weight-lifting sessions at the gym had finally paid off, he thought, clubbing his 10th alien, who promptly collapsed.

While Rose was staring at the situation, the Spectre leader had regained his weapon, and was now shooting at her. She ran for cover and ducked behind a bench, but too late - he had seen her. He vaporised the bench, and towered over her quivering form. He pointed the weapon at her for the last time. She swore she could smell Flamer's breath as the weapon leaned in closer.

That was when she heard it - that whirring sound - in her opinion, the most beautiful sound in the universe. While the Spctre was momentarily distracted, she kicked the weapon out of his claw and sprinted for the Tardis door. She had only just gotten inside the Tardis when the door was peppered with bullets. She leant against it, breathing hard at her narrow escape, when she saw the Doctor.

"Oh my God..."

She ran to his side straight away, staring at him. Before she could do anything, however, she heard a furious hammering from the Tardis door. It looked about to collapse under the strain. Pushing a chair in front of it, she called to the Tardis.

"Tardis? Can you hear me?"

The Tardis responded. "Of course."

"Erm... right, can you take me somewhere?"

The pounding increased, and Rose threw herself at the door in an attempt to keep it shut.

"Where do you want to go?"

"I don't know! Just... float in the Void or something."

Suddenly, she felt the Tardis jolt unexpectedly. The banging stopped immediately, and Rose felt herself slide across the Tardis floor as it tilted and collapse in the corner. She heard a thud and suddenly the unconscious Doctor came sliding into her. The two were wrapped in a tangle of limbs on the floor. Picking herself up, Rose examined the Doctor.

"Only one heartbeat, and that's sluggish. Tardis, what's wrong with him?"

"I cannot tell from here. Bring him to the medical bay." The old, echoey voice was like nothing she had ever heard before. Rose's mind was overflowing with questions, and as if she could read her thoughts, the Tardis blocked out Rose's mental link before she could say another word.

Rose carried the Doctor onto a hospital trolley, and wheeled it into the medical bay.

"Right, basic scans first..." she muttered, taking a rectangular scanner and running it over his brain, heart, lungs, liver and kidneys.

The results were not good. All major organs had shut down, with the exception of brain, heart and lungs, which were keeping him running - just about. Rose took a blood sample and inserted it into the Tardis for identification. The printout result was not good. Rose read aloud.

"Blood sample, Gallifreyan/Human male, B positive - that's my blood type! - Platlet count average, blah blah blah..."

Here followed a long list of factors. Rose skipped down to the end, with a category entitled: Foreign or Dangerous Toxic Substances, and read the one item on the list - it was apparantly an advanced form of Clostridium Boutilium, a potent Earth poison, that was triggered in organic matter upon atmospheric change.

She read this aloud to the Tardis, adding, "The change must've been when he left the planet!" She could fell the ship's shock and sorrow rebound across their mental link. She asked, "How bad is it?"

In a small voice the Tardis replied, "My dear child... he has less than ten minutes to live."

"WHAT? Oh my God. Doctor..." Rose brushed hair away from his eyes. There was so much she needed to tell him - how could she thank him for showing her the universe in five minutes? "Tardis... is there anything I can do?"

The Tardis hestitated before responding. " There is an antidote, of course, but Theta always was lax with precautions. He probably doesn't stock it on board - he knows exactly how to make it, but using my equipment, the process would take far more than ten minutes, I'm afraid."

Rose shook her head wordlessly and st down on the nearest stool, feeling her legs were about to give way. Her sobbing in complete despair rebounded through the Tardis, softening her ancient heart with true compassion for this little girl, a part of the Tardis, who she knew was so much more than just another human. While wondering if there was anyway to help Rose, and Theta, she suddenly remembered the old rhyme she had recited in the Genesis office.

"Together they travel, for upon her change, their futures are entwined for eternity..." She hadn't realised she was thinking aloud until Rose looked up. Ignoring her, the Tardis began to think like never before. Bo had said that part of her destiny was to unite the Healer and the Wolf, and the only way she could do that was through Rose. The only human ever to have a telepathic link with her. She was certain that to bring Theta back, those two had to do something unprecedented. Unifying them, using the greatest power available to her... Bad Wolf! Of course!

Marshalling her thoughts, she called Rose again and explained. "Rose, there's a lot you need to know but as we don't have time you're gonna have to put complete faith in me. Can you do that?"

After thinking about it, Rose responded in the affirmative. Satisfied, the Tardis asked her the one other thing she needed to know. "Are you prepared to risk your life for him?"

Rose looked at the person on the bed. Her hero, her friend. Her lover? She would never know if she didn't save him. But she did feel an amazing attatchment to him, even though he had left her. She always had. If she had to die for him she knew she would in an instant.

"Yes."

"Good. I'm doing this on a hunch - it's never been done before in history, so things could go either way, for you and him. Now, can you access Bad Wolf with your mind? Reach back into your subconscious... that's it..."

Rose found, to her astonishment, that even though the Vortex had been removed from her, Bad Wolf and the essence of the Vortex remained, and she was able to access the whole Vortex using that tiny fragment that remained. The power of the universe was at her disposal.

"Right, here's the plan. For the doctor to survive he needs an antidote. Now, the vortex has natural cleansing power, too strong for you humans to handle - it kills you, but the amount you have in your system SHOULD have strong healing properties on a half-Gallifreyan, with his advanced Time-Lord genes. The only thing is, Rose - you need to block your mind. The part of the vortex that is combined with Bad Wolf in you will try to pull the rest of the Vortex in, like glue. Access Bad Wolf, but keep a firm block on the rest of the Vortex. Too much and you both go through the roof.

We don't have any of the right equipment here, so we're going to use the simplest type of tube, so your blood's gonna mix, I'm afraid. Right, first things first, this drug should shut off the pain sensors in your brain, temporarily, so you can operate on yourself. They'll return as soon as the transfusion is over."

She proceeded to tell Rose the materials for the transfusion. She ran to grab the required drugs, syringes, tubes and machines for the entire experiment. Injecting herself, she felt a numbing sensation. Testing herself, she pricked her skin with a needle and watched it draw blood without her feeling any pain. She nodded to the Tardis.

"I'm ready."

The Tardis explained the method step by step as Rose dashed around preparing tubing and drugs. She watched as Rose inserted a small tube into a vein in her arm, then made an insertion in the Doctor's forearm and inserted the other end of the tube. She got another trolley so they were both lying side by side, Rose lower than the Doctor. With Bad Wolf in her blood, it had gained enough energy to travel against gravity into the Doctor's vein.

The Tardis kept urging her to hurry, the Doctor was running out of time, he had seconds left. At the last minute, Rose finished the job. She replied she was ready, and swallowed the pills that would shut down her mind so she could concentrate only on blocking out the rest of the Time Vortex, special ones that would stop working with the transfusion. All the Tardis could do now was wait, to see what would happen. Would the transfusion work? Would Bad Wolf cure the Doctor? Would Rose be able to use Bad Wolf but keep the Vortex at bay? The Tardis waited in absoloute anguish. She had never been so frightened in all the millenia of her existance.


	9. Chapter 9

Hello again! Well, let's just say I'm not very good at writing romance, it's not my forte AT ALL, but I finally caved and decided to start it - Rose/Ten kinda explodes in this chapter lol. But in a good way, and the rating hasn't gone up so... Ahem. Again, reviews are like presents, like ice cream, like sunsets, like... you know what I mean. Oh and my hit counter has gone above 1000, even though it got restarted a couple of times when I accidentally deleted Chapters 1 and 2 at the beginning. Thank you very much - it's nice to know you guys are actually reading my humble first efforts. Enjoy!

CHAPTER 9

A few minutes later, the blood was still quietly flowing down and up the tube. If the Tardis could have bit her lip, she could. She could feel the Doctor trapped between life and death, as was Rose. She was slowly managing to pull him from the brink of regeneration, while exhausting her body and mind. So far, she had managed to keep the rest of the Vortex at bay, but the Tardis didn't know how much longer she could keep it up - her strength was being stolen away.

Suddenley, golden dust began to accumulate around the pair, lying side by side. The dust grew until the two were in the middle of a sphere of swirling dust. It was the energy produced when their blood was mixed, the Tardis realised. Those two really were destined to save each other. Then, a blinding golden light began to pour from the dust cloud. The Vortex was escaping! Rose was getting weaker by the seond, and soon she would not be able to keep the Vortex at bay any longer. The light was getting stronger. If this carried on it would kill them both...

It was then that she felt a tug - a strong pull. Theta had been cured by the Wolf, who had burned the toxin out of his system, and completely healed, he was powering back towards life, lending Time Lord strength to Rose through his blood, who was using it to continue her block on the Vortex. The golden light gradually receded and the ball of golden dust dissolved, leaving behind a golden hue as the two travellers both made it, firmly alive but exhausted.

Rose awoke first, st up weakly and looked around her. Seeing the Doctor was breathing, she gazed mystified at the gentle golden glow that surrounded them. She called shakily to the Tardis.

"Wh-what happened? Did we do it?"

The Tardis was ecstatic. "My child, you have saved him! You brought the last Time Lord back from the brink of death! Sleep now - the battle is over."

A wave of relief swept through Rose. She wanted to jump up and down - but she was so... so tired. She leaned over to the Doctor, stroked his hair and kissed him gently on the lips.

"My Doctor..." she murmured, before succumbing to the wave of exhaustion, falling back on her stretcher, too tired to remove the tube, and fell into a blissful slumber.

Satisfied that the plan had worked, better than she could have hoped, the Tardis settled to wait for the two to wake. There was a lot that she needed to explain, and even more that she needed to think about, concerning the future of the universe. After all, Earth was being invaded. Billions of lives were at stake. And to beat them, Theta and Rose were gonna have to work together, and get used to the new power they commanded. Theta, for instance, now held access to the most powerful entity in the universe - Bad Wolf, as well as Rose's memories, thoughts and ideas at the moment of the transfusion. He also held all the memories of the Tardis and the Vortex.

Rose, on the other hand, was gonna have to cope with Time Lord memories, thoughts and physiology, and the memories of the Tardis and Vortex, which had activated upon her using her power as Bad Wolf. The Tardis wan't sure to what extent she had changed, but knew for a fact she wasn't human anymore. She smirked as she felt Rose dreaming about a partial soloution to the Stasis Paradime in her head, while the Doctor subconsciously realised this and solved the other half of the Paradime. Both of them were able to perform the logic the other couldn't. Their minds met and both of them realised the complete soloution at the same time. They both smiled happily, in deep sleep.

The Tardis smiled protectively. Those two were like children to her now, both sharing exactly the same thoughts with her and each other, and able to read each other's minds. Joined in the most intimate of ways, through blood - she didn't see how Rose could leave Theta again. What choice did Theta have but to marry her now? Together they would save the universe, together they were practically invincible...

Her musings were interrupted several hours later by Theta, who woke up, stretched and gasped as the memory of his collapse in the Tardis overwhelmed him. And why, he wondered, did he have a tube in his arm? Wincing in pain, he looked down and saw blood, tinged with gold, mixing with his, which was also golden in colour. Following the tube, he noticed Rose lying beside him, and the gentle golden glow that enveloped both of them. Rose? What was she doing here? Unless... Realising what COULD have happened, he felt faint with excitement and was suprised when the Tardis responded to the thoughts in his head.

"Of course you're alive, Theta."

"You can hear my thoughts now?"

"As clearly as you can hear Rose's."

It was true. He could feel that his connection with her was phenominally strong now, as was his connection with Rose. On a whim, he reached into Rose's subconscious. He knew he shouldn't have, but the temptation was too strong. He could feel her wrapping up the soloution to the Stasis Paradime, the one they had solved together in their sleep, he realised in wonder.

"As you can see, you two can work miracles together even in sleep. Imagine what you can both do awake, now you are joined..."

"JOINED?" He couldn't believe it. A dream he had secretly been keeping in the back of his mind had become reality. He couln't believe there was finally a way to keep Rose with him for eternity.

"But how-" Then he looked at the tube running between their arms.

"Yes, that DOES have something to do with it. Let me explain."

"Rose forgave me then? For leaving her?"

"Rose did more than that, she saved your life."

The Tardis proceeded to explain everything that had transpired - she didn't want the Doctor to invade Rose's mind to find out while she was sleeping. Theta listened in astonishment and wonder, his love for Rose growing by the second.

"So, she made history, saved your life, gave a Time Lord the power of Bad Wolf, joined you two for eternity - everything. 19 years in the universe and she's

fulfilled the prophecy, Theta. Amazing."

"And I couldn't love her more..." he muttered.

The Tardis could hear his thoughts. Poor Theta was desperate to know if Rose loved him back. She couldn't deny him that knowledge.

"Why don't you take a look and find out, Theta."

He reached for Roses's thoughts - they came to him easier than the last time. Reaching her emotional centre, he was astonished at the amount she felt for him. Pain, anger, sorrow, they were all there, but washing over them all was a beautiful manifestation of love. Pure, unrefined love. For him! The lonely time traveller, always running across the universe, doomed to be friendless for eternity. For him! The gratitude he felt was immense. He left Rose's mind and broke down in tears.

"Rose! My Rose... how I love you."

The Tardis, fed up with dealing in human emotion for too long, put an end to his outburst, and briskly ordered him to remove both ends of the tube, if he as strong enough to leave the trolley, and wait for his wound to heal. Time Lords heal quickly, and a few seconds after the tube had been removed, the gaping incision vanished, leaving behind a strangely shaped scar that looked like a fireball, or a ten-pointed star. He was about to go to get some nanogenes for Roses's wound when he took the tube out, but the Tardis told him to wait and watch. After a few seconds, Rose's wound healed too, in Time Lord fashion, leaving behind a scar that looked oddly like a wolf. While the Doctor gaped, the Tardis self-congratulated smugly.

"I have a feeling, Theta, that healing minor injuries isn't the only Time Lord quality Rose has acquired. I sense she is nearing the end of her healing process, and as you are so anxious to talk to her, and I have a lot to explain to her, reach for her and tell her to wake up"  
emerge into her head.

"Rose... Rose, wake up... Rose..."

The gentle but insitent nudging soon had Rose awake. She stared around her, clearly confused. When she saw the Doctor, she grinned at him, delighted. The Doctor beamed at her like he had never had before. In a flash he had scooped her up off the trolley and into his arms, kissing the top of her head. Rose was bewildered but perfectly happy with the Doctor's unexpected display of affection.

"Hey, you're alive! It worked!" She was stunned when the Doctor answered her telepathically.

"It certainly did!"

"We can talk... like this now?"

"This... and lots more besides. 234 squared?"

"54756... ah. Oh my GOD this is... fantastic!"

The Doctor smiled. "Glad you think so. There's something you gotta know, Rose. I... erm... wanted to tell you ever since I met you..."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. The thing is... oh hold on I'll show you..."

The truth exploded like a firework in Rose's mind as she heard the doctor profess undying love for her. His visual imprint was of him standing on a rainy clifftop yelling the words out to sea, and she saw it clearly in her head, their minds merging together. The inside of the Doctor's mind, Rose thought, was breathtakingly beautiful.

"ROSE TYLER" He yelled. "I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU NOW, I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU TILL THE END OF TIME."

Rose giggled - the Doctor had imagined the "New World Symphony" was playing. As the piece reached it's climax, a golden light shone from above, the rain ceased and the Doctor was bathed in a golden mist. Rose recognised it as Bad Wolf, containing the power of the vortex. The Doctor smiled blissfully as the light shone around him, and Rose knew that was his image of heaven.

She broke the connection there and stared at the Doctor, still locked in his dream. She gave him a mental prod and he opened his eyes suddenley. The look she gave him embarassed him so much that his cheeks turned scarlet and she laughed.

"I - you - wow..."

"You saw it, then?"

She looked at him again. "Yeah, I did. What was thoat?"

"An imprint of... well... how you make me feel, Rose. Uh - you did see it all, right?"

Rose didn't answer - she reached up and pulled his head down, kissing him hard and passionately. She pulled away breathing raggedly, leaving him dazed, his eyes glazed over with adoration.

"I hope that means... you feel the same way? You really do love me?"

"Hopelessly..." she confessed, and hearing it from her own lips, Doctor laughed with happiness and kissed her again.

"Right, the Tardis has a lot of explaining to do, and... so have I."

"OK, but you do know about the alien invasion? We've gotta save Earth!"

"Of course, but what the Tardis is about to tell you, Rose, is more important that that. You have to know everything before you can learn to use Time Lord blood and I can learn to use Bad Wolf. We have to be able to work together to stop a whole army. It's essential that we stay united, I've been told. There's an ancient prophecy, all of that. Come on!"

Puzzled, Rose agreed. "Alright, but after that, then what?"

"We go kick some alien butt!" The Doctor laughed. "And then - we need to talk about us, Rose. I don't care how many evil geniuses try and destroy the planet."

He kissed her again, feeling Rose melt in his arms.

"For you, Rose Tyler, saving the universe can wait."

He pulled her to her feet, and hand in hand, the Wolf and the Doctor walked into the Tardis control room, hand in hand, and happier than either of them thought was possible.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Don't forget that little blue button at the bottom. If I remember, next chapter I will collect all the reviewers and do a thank-you thing at the beginning. IF I remember and IF you are nice and don't flame too much. Thank You.


	10. Chapter 10

Hello everyone - welcome to a phenominally long chapter! As you can see I have several unconnected announcements to make. They have NOTHING to do with the story, so if you wanna skip them, skip them... 

The short version of what's going on in my crazy life is that I tripped over a friend's guitar amp today (very very HARD) and went out cold with concussion, apparantly. Ah well. Don't worry about it, but if you don't get posts for a week or two you'll understand that I'm running around with a bloody HUGE bandage over my poor temples lol. Therefore, the quality of this chapter may have been compromised. Very sorry about that. There ARE a couple of other things:

1. Betas. Everyone seems to have one. Should I get one? Would any of my wonderful readers like to be one? Please just let me know.

2. I realised I hadn't included one of these - Disclaimer: Just in case anyone managed to get confused about this... no, funnily enough, I DON'T OWN DOCTOR WHO. Happy?

3. I can't thank the following people enough: pinktardis (who says this is better than what she could write but I bet you anything she'd make a fantastic author if her reviews are anything to go by), Xxdoctorwho28fanxX (who is a genuine angel in disguise - I can't think of higher praise), daffodillTARDIS (kindly allow me to say how brilliant your work is), as well as all the following: saiyamar (thank you again), blackhairdye (hey, I'm glad you like it), I-Confuse-Everyone, Cacunai, one of the riddle's, Francescanne and anyone else I have stupidly forgotten to mention. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Right, now we can FINALLY get on with it. Once I start using fluff I can't seem to stop so you have been warned! Enjoy!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER 10

The Doctor wandered over to the kitchen to make hot chocolate - his speciality - and get digestive biscuits, having left Rose in one of the rooms of the Tardis. She was listening to the Tardis from the floor, hugging her knees and paying close attention with a rapt expression on her face, and he'd gazed at her fondly for a long moment before leaving the two of them to get everything sorted. He was surprised at how well Rose had reacted to her newly-found powers - he didn't think she was a Time Lord, but still... he could sense a storm brewing. God, he did love her though. His eyes glazed over as he allowed himself to daydream on the subject that yesterday he would have firmly banished from his mind. Rose loved him... he would never get tired of thinking that.

His head was rather abruptly brought down from Cloud 9 by two things - one, the kettle was boiling over, burning his hand, and two, he heard a yell and a thump from Rose's room. Instantly forgetting the former event, he ran into Rose's room, completely unaware as to what was going on. What he saw made his blood run cold. Rose was lying flat out on the floor, looking deathly pale. Apparantly she had fainted. Shocked and angered, the Doctor turned on the Tardis.

"What did you do? What did you show her?" He pounded on the metal frame.

The Tardis' reply was calm. "I didn't show her anything. I taught her to see what is now stored inside her head. She looked into your memories."

"...Oh shit." He gulped. This was gonna need straightening out. "Do you know what she saw?"

"She saw until the Time War, then she left. She couldn't bear watching you kill so many..."

On the floor, the Doctor could practically feel the sparks of shock and revulsion coursing through Rose. Getting over the initial scare, she came to and found the Doctor standing there in the doorway, looking at her guardedly but with undisguised love still bubbling through as an undercurrent. Right now, however, she was absoloutely furious with him.

"How could you?" Her voice was shaking with rage. "How could you go back in time to stop the Daleks from existing? You killed the Time Lords! You destoyed Gallifrey. The things I saw inside your head, oh..." The Doctor folded his arms. He wasn't going to stand there and watch Rose take his soul to pieces in front of his eyes. He hadn't lived 900 years for nothing.

"Rose, you don't understand. It wasn't meant to be like that..."

"I DON'T UNDERSTAND? Theta... I admired you. I thought you were perfect, saving the universe, saving LIVES. But you hated the Time Lords didn't you? You thought they were stuck-up, dusty senators..."

The Doctor was horrified. "Yes, I did, but that doesn't mean I wanted to kill my own people, Rose. For God's sake - my own flesh and blood - how could I commit genocide?"

"Genocide? That's what you did - what you tried to do with the Daleks, isn' it?"

"I - I - the Daleks were my enemy, Rose. They were at war with Gallifrey, someone had to die..."

"But how many did you kill, Theta? HOW MANY?"

"I WILL DO WHATEVER I HAVE TO TO SAVE THE PEOPLE I LOVE!" bellowed the Doctor, and in the heat of the moment Rose raised her hand up to administer a characteristic Tyler slap, but as her hand moved, white-hot sparks fizzled around her fingertips, one of them shooting out to burn the Doctor on the cheek. She stared at her hand in absoloute terror before running from the room, slamming the door behind her.

The Doctor slumped down on the floor, feeling more miserable than he had since the Time War. He had feared this might happen. Of course Rose didn't understand - the problem with what had happened was that a 19-year-old shop girl now had to cope with all the knowledge of time and space. But if she only saw until the time war, maybe he had a chance to make this right.

Yes, he was a killer. He couldn't deny the truth. But Rose didn't know the whole story - she hadn't seen the whole of his mind... He was interrupted by the Tardis.

"Theta, just so you know, the situation on Earth is OK for now, but you don't have much time left... you and Rose are needed soon..."

It looked like he was gonna have show Rose all his memories, and explain everything, including the emotion spark... he grinned. He wasn't sure what the hell that was, but he knew one thing: both him and Rose was more powerful than they realised. With a plan of action in his head, he leapt up, the familiar adrenalin rush returning, and sprinted down the corridoors to find out where Rose had run to.

In the maze of corridoors, he groaned as he realised that Rose now knew the Tardis as well, if not better than she did. Finding her could take hours... the universe didn't have that much time. In desperation, he reached out for her telepathically.

"Rose... Rose... ROSE!"

"Yes?" Positively icy. He shuddered. Tyler females sure knew how to hurt a guy.

"Oh Rose... where are you?" He felt her soften as she made her decision.

"Third turning on the right from the control room... Theta, this had better be good..." Theta gulped. Wait - she knew his name now? What else did she know - his fear of mice? Suddenley, he felt Rose projecting an image of a furry doormouse - he yelled and could feel Rose smirking on the other side. How had she entered his mind like that, without him noticing? Oh... she was good. Very good.

Theta picked up his pace and soon arrived at the door. He opened it cautiously to find Rose standing on the other side, waiting for him. She grabbed him by his shirt collar.

"Right, you're gonna tell me right now - you're gonna explain exactly what I saw in your memories, and why you did it..." Theta took hold of her hand, and said very gently to her through their link, "Rose, put me down." She released her hold on him immediately, and sat down next to him on a couch. She heard a static noise, and looked down at their joined hands. A yellow spark escaped, darting in-between them. Rose looked down at it, gasped, and told Theta down their mental link, "OK, first you're gonna explain what those things are..."

As Theta could see she was near panicking, he held his arms wide. "Come here." Despite being angry with him, Rose fell into his embrace staight away, and clung to him tightly before Theta pulled away. He looked down at her, his eyes twinkling with that mischevious expression she loved so much.

"Those things... you mean this? Hang on, I'm gonna test it." He put his hand on her shoulder, centering his thought processes on one blinding emotion - his love for Rose. The result was astonishing - both of them were surrounded by an electric current that ran through both of them, causing their hair to stand on end. Suddenly, both of them were pulled into a mind-blowing limbo that showed the strength of the love both of them were experiencing. The effect was so strong that they almost blacked out and both of them collapsed back on the couch. Rose spoke first.

"Woah! Bloody hell - yeah, what was that?"

The Doctor was smiling. "Not bad... not bad at all... it felt rather good, actually. Bit strong though..."

"A bit strong? It nearly killed me!"

"Ah, and that's the beauty of it." The Doctor beamed. "That was a physical manifestation of love. Pure love, Rose Tyler. Seems to occur most times we touch each other. Though how it happened I have no idea. I've gotta say I've never seen anything like it before. Wasn't bad though was it?"

"Not bad... but this has something to do with... the joining?"

"Yup - as the first two beings of different species to be... joined... in the universe there's potentially an infinite number of new experiences ahead... weird isn't it? We're gonna have to be careful to keep those under control - he referred to the sparks - it's not gonna be pretty if THAT happens again at an inopportune time. Of course, being holders of infinite power as Bad Wolf, the last Time Lord, the last Tardis and holder of the Vortex..."

Pulling her close again, he explained the verse that controlled their destiny, with complicated scientific reasoning, as Rose listened to the double heartbeats in his chest and smiled contentedly. She was surprised to find she understood perfectly.

"Right... but you still haven't explained to me why you're a killer." Theta's eyes darkened but he pulled Rose in anyway. Close to her, he put his hands on Rose's temples, ignoring the gentle yellow glow that was an aftershock from their previous experience. He instructed Rose to do the same. As she did so, increasing the strength of the glow that surrounded them, they both instinctively closed their eyes. The feeling of the glow was very pleasant, like a warm breeze on their faces, sleep-inducing and intoxicating. Theta groaned - he could sense this development was going to be a problem.

More in control of his faculties than Rose, who hadn't learned to use Time-Lord powers, had already fallen completely under the spell, and was now murmuring his name, he somehow managed to control the pleasant haze that threatened to engulf him and firmly told her to take her fingers off. The golden light ceased immediately, and they both blinked as they came back to reality.

The Doctor rubbed his head. "Phew, that was close. Lucky escape, that drug could have had us out completely."

Rose blushed at what could have happened...

"Aboloutely intoxicating... we're gonna have to ask the Tardis for help with that, and see if there are any other surprises."

"Right, now let's try a different approach. Reach forward into my mind WITHOUT touching me - shouldn't be too difficult, you've done it already, and I'll go with you, talk you through it, you know, so you understand. Trust me, Rose..."

She did it. They both reached into the Doctor's soul and as she was dragged in she saw a mirage of colours, golden, pink, sunset orange, all glimmering in a beautiful haze of unrecognisable shapes. It was like flying, soaring through clouds in a candy-floss sky.

Rose gasped. "It's beautiful..."

The Doctor beamed. "It's the primary emotion I'm feeling at this moment in time. Your mind should be looking about the same right now. Not everyone's minds are this idolized, you know. Only people in love..." He winked at Rose as she blushed, in her case literally sparking with emotion.

"Right, prepare yourself Rose Tyler - I'm gonna show you memories no other living soul has ever seen. These... are my memories."

They descended suddenley into a swirling vortex of memories, shapes and colours. They stopped rather abruptly at a newborn baby with jet black hair and dark eyes who grinned up at his mother.

"Aww..." Rose grinned. "Ain't he cute!" Theta gazed down, interested.

"I haven't seen this before..."

A little boy wearing a green tunic ran around his bedroom fixing his new telescope. As a chubby dog with purple fur bounded into a room, the boy squealed and bent down to give the little dog a hug. Watching the little Doctor, Rose watched transfixed while the Doctor scratched behind his ear uncomfortably.

"I was very attatched to my telescope, as you can see. This is before my first regeneration."

"You were so sweet!" Theta turned crimson endearingly.

"Women..." he muttered. "Moving on..."

They saw a young man wearing a red tasselled tunic with a gold border, and looking very important. He carried a scroll in his hand, was standing on a podium, and was clearly about to deliver a speech to a large hall of people. He now had a curly light brown mop on his head, and studious glasses, marking him out as a bookworm.

"Graduation Day!"

He grinned. "The Gallifreyan equivalent. Top student in Astronomy, Medical Science and Practical Mathematics..."

As the figure on the podium opened his mouth to speak, the Doctor moved them on again, much to Rose's disappointment. They met him slightly older, taking part in a Gallifreyan ceremony. The Doctor looked down sadly at his converses.

"Arranged marriage. I was one of the last Time Lords to have to go through that. My mother made me, for my own safety, being half-human. Gallifreyans are characteristically xenophobic - they don't like mangy half-breeds. They thought they were better than everyone else. As you are about to find out, I was incredibly determined to prove them wrong..."

They moved on again, saw his marriage, which was brief and passionless. They saw his wife, who never loved him, leave him in the end, and his despair and frustration when he realised the authorities would soon discover his secret - that he was half human - and arrest him. So, he was forced into exile. The Doctor had been silent through all this, and as Rose gently took his hand, she saw that she could begin to understand. She stroked the back of his hand softly, entwining his fingers with hers. The Doctor looked down at her and smiled.

They next saw the moment when the Doctor first met his Tardis, about to be scrapped and thrown away, in the same situation that he was. Rose could feel his joy on finding a true friend at last, and watched as he made his decision to escape in his Tardis, and flee to his mother's planet - Earth.

She saw his previous regenerations one by one, in tantalising glimpses. The Doctor had only remembered the most important and special events, and some memories were clearer than others, so the focus was constantly changing. She saw all his regenerations in bodies of different ages - the endearing curly-haired scarf-bearer, the blond cricketer, the time he had an unusual attraction for bright colours. All his regenerations, however, were incredibly attractive, though not in the stereotypical sense. She saw the Doctor's brief marriage to his friend Romana, a Time Lady, and bring up a family. She saw him as a father, his sorrow when his family was taken away from him. The Doctor wouldn't show her how they died, just his image crying in the Tardis alone, for so many long and sleepless nights. She saw all of his companions, many of them leaving a life they couldn't understand, and Sarah Jane, the only one who didn't leave him willingly had to be dumped back on Earth. She felt his sorrow, joy, the familiar intense excitment, adrenalin rushes and an insatiable appetite for danger. When they came to the end of his eigth body, the Doctor halted and looked at Rose.

"Are you sure you want to go through this? The thing is... Rose, I love you too much to put you through what I've suffered unless you're absoloutely sure." He looked uncomfortable - Rose knew he had difficulty expressing his emotions, Time Lords generally weren't accustomed to doing that much.

"And... once you see the Time War, you'll probably change your mind about me." he muttered. He looked so folorn and lost, like a puppy, that Rose was overflowing with emotion. Forgetting the possible consequeces, she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled him down and kissed him. The resulting blast was electrifying, around as loud as a minor explosion and Rose would have fainted if the Doctor hadn't caught her. Straightening up, he stroked her hair before firmly stepping back.

"Now was REALLY not the right time... we don't need you fainting on me now... but thank you."

"Theta... we've been joined by blood, as the Tardis said, for all eternity. I know you better than any other being in existance. And there is no WAY I could hate you. Not ever. I mean - My God, I feel like STRANGLING you sometimes - but I couldn't hate you. No matter what you've done I am NOT leaving your head until you explain the Time War. Now if you ever want to get kissed like that again, you'd better take me in - " She paused, stunned by the way he was looking at her. His gaze was so intense and admiring that she was frankly stunned. She gazed into his beautiful brown eyes, reading the happiness in there as well as the terrible lonliness that had never left him. She felt she could stare into them forever...

"Oh Theta... I love you so much..."

Theta smiled ruefully. "You're too good for me Rose." He took her hand suddenley and plunged with her into his memories of the Time War.

Those memories were darkened by hate and shame. She saw the Doctor meet the Daleks while travelling through the future in the Tardis. She watched as he went back in time to try and stop their race from ever existing. As he failed, the Daleks, infuriated that a Time Lord tried to meddle in their existance, began the Time War, a long and bitter massacre. She watched from the front line as Gallifrey was stormed by the Daleks, saw the Doctor whirling around, an indestructible figure, murdering countless Daleks in his rage. She watched Romana and the Doctor's children die a cruel death, the Doctor powerless to help them. As she saw, she understood just why the Doctor tried to stop the Daleks from existing. He tried to save lives. Rose gasped and bowed her head as she accepted the decisions that the Doctor made, that she would have to make from now onward. He had to decide who lived and who died, and it had been torture. He shouldn't have to do this, thought Rose, furious with fate. She looked down as she heard a crack and saw white sparks erupt from her fingers again. Slowly, she closed her eyes and managed to control her emotions enough to stop their physical effects.

Looking over at the Doctor, Rose could see him bristling with rage. White electricity coursed through him, getting stronger and stronger by the minute. Rose became rather alarmed.

"Theta, you're burning up!" She could feel him seething with extreme fury. Keeping a firm lid on her own rage, she entered his mind and whispered soothing words through their link for several minutes until the sparks faded away and he collapsed unconscious in her arms. Shaking her head, she exited their mental link and found them both back on the couch in the room. She stretched the Doctor out on it, and stroked his hair quietly until he stopped shaking and came back to her.

"R-Rose? What happened?"

"Uh, you got so furious that you got engulfed in sparks and blacked out for quite a while..."

The Doctor groaned, rubbing his head gingerly. He looked at Rose.

"You... you saw the Time War, then?" Rose nodded.

"But do you - do you understand? Why I've gotta decide everyone's future? Until I die, 'cos there's no-one to do it for me... Gallifrey's lost... Oh Rose..."

He broke down in abject misery. Rose took hold of his hand, fiercely determined. The Doctor wasn't gonna be alone any longer.

"I do understand. But you're forgetting - you're not alone any longer. You're joined to me - the Bad Wolf - who's about to take half the weight off your shoulders... and you're stuck with me."

She bent down and lifted the Doctor's chin. "Close your eyes..." On impulse, she put up her mental barriers against the vortex, and accessed Bad Wolf in her mind, who darted into the Doctor's conscience and took away some of the hurt, anger, grief and pain from the memories that was tormenting him, destroying it in a burst of golden rain. The Doctor immediately felt his conscience lighten considerably and opened his eyes, astonished as to how Rose could possibly have done that.

Rose gasped. "I-I didn't mean to do that... it just happened, I have no idea... I'm sorry"

"No, it's OK," said the Doctor, getting to his feet and pulling Rose up with him. He looked carefully into Rose's eyes and saw the same knowledge that he had buried in them. He wasn't alone... he wasn't alone! "Don't ever apologize, Rose. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me."

He spoke to the Tardis. "Tardis, maybe you have some idea about what's going on." The Tardis agreed she had a vague idea, and began to deliver her hypotheses for exactly what was happening. The strange quirks were being caused by the mixing of Time Lord and human blood with the Vortex, and the best thing they could do about them was attempt to control them. More would appear in the future, that was certain: and they were gonna have to try and cope with them.

At this, Rose became incredibly frustrated, pacing the room and suddenly began swearing in Gallifreyan. Hearing her, the Doctor burst out laughing at the amazed expression on her face. Asking her a question in Gallifreyan, Rose responded happily and he beamed at her. They were about to continue their conversation when the Tardis cut in.

"You know, I think a crash course is in order. It's about time Theta had a pupil. He's gonna have to conduct a crash course in Time Lord ship, and you're both gonna have to learn how to control our power. It won't be pretty if you two erupt into electric shocks in the middle of saving Earth... You'd better get started. I've been stopping time outside of the Tardis ever since we entered the Void, and if I continue this you have a maximum of five hours to save the Earth before I run out of power... Good luck, my children." The Tardis then fell silent, thinking her own thoughts.

Theta explained. "She's like that. Listen, she's severed the telepathic connection. She most probably won't talk to us for another millenia or so."

He turned to Rose and took her into his arms. He nuzzled her nose as she giggled. "Well Ms. Tyler, we have five hours to save the world... and we should probably practice your Gallifreyan while we're at it..."

"My Gallifreyan is perfect! " she retorted. "Well... as perfect as yours is anyway."

Theta laughed and hugged her. Siting on the sofa with Rose in his arms, he proceeded to tell her everything he knew about being part Time Lord, in Gallifreyan - she interrupted the lesson with her comments on the Time Vortex.

The Tardis watched in absoloute delight as the unique bond between Rose and Theta began to mature - those two were hoplessly head-over-heels for each other - but as the crash course continued, the Tardis could sense danger on the horizon. While the Genesis was after the Doctor, both their lives were at stake...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well there you are then. I've just read through this and it's the most shameful fluff I've ever seen... with a lot of confusing nonsense... I'm ashamed of myself. I promise you we move straight back to Earth's invasion when I get over this, and I'm sorry the chapter is so long. Anyway, think about the beta thing, let me know.

Next update - the Invincible Two kick alien ass! I'll probably come up with a couple of witty one-liners...

I'm sorry this is so long, but please Review review review... you are all angels, don't you dare think otherwise!


	11. Chapter 11

Here, my loyal readers, is the very last chapter of Leave You Behind. Well, it's been fun. Really fantastic as a summer holidays project, and I love all you guys who reviewed. You are, and have always been, fantastic. Work will begin soon on the second in this two-part series, which answers all unanswered questions, called Take You With Me, so this isn't finished yet, it's only half way through lol. However, I'm going back to school soon so the updates aren't gonna come in as fast... Sorry. I hope the plot makes sense, and I hope you enjoy it. For the last time in what could be a while, here we go:

CHAPTER 11

If any aliens had bothered to keep a close eye on Central London, England, Earth, they would have discovered it was the centre of a gigantic alien invasion, where a war was raging between mankind and the might of the Spectal army. They would have also seen evidence of a large time stoppage of several hours over the battleground, which by now had spread from Tower Bridge, which was being resisted by a fierce blockade from the armed forces. The entire army had been recalled from foreign territoties, the Home Guard was currently quarantining the area and attempting to stop the alien forces attacking further into London.

Needless to say, beurocracy was in chaos. The Royal Family was being held hostage in Buckingham Palace, the Philamonic Orchestra were locked in the Royal Albert Hall, along with a massive terrified audience, and the London Eye had been vandalised by the alien rebels. Every single carriage capsule was now on fire, and the wheel control room had been hijacked by alien techies. The wheel now spun crazily at 90 miles an hour, looking like a whirling ball of flames. Terrified commuters were being horded off pubic transport in droves by the emergency services. Anyone moving in a car was history - the aliens liked to practice their accuracy by shooting fireballs through the windows.

But although the fight had spread beyond London in the short time it had taken the Tardis to get into the Void, the main battle by far was raging outside the Houses of Parliament, with the ever-faithful Harold at the centre of it, chopping down aliens one after the other, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. Absoloutely furious, he ran madly around like a beserker, a huge killing machine. Jackie, watching the whole scene from behind a tree, where miraculously she had not been noticed, observed how amazingly ordinary people change when they're protecting people they love. Harold was a born fighter, actually saving much of London in his own little way.

The leader of the army, however, was not pleased with this exemplary human fighter. He couldn't understand why the humans didn't just submit straight away. Every other planet he had tried to conquer had bowed down to them as superior beings and allowed themselves to be sold into slavery. These humans, although they were puny, were putting up such a stif resistance he could see why other planets had'nt bothered to come near them. But although the battle was slightly more prolonged, they were winning. And once he put a stop to that man, the Houses of Parliament would be theirs.

As he moved behind Harold, ready to grab his jacket, he felt time stop. Apparantly it was only in the area of Central London, as there was no panic. He knew that outside, time would be proceeding as normal but in a loop, 2-minute cycles of the same images. Whoever had done that probably needed several hours, as it was a truly excellent stoppage, carefully executed to cause minimal interferance. The humans would never realise they were frozen in place. He would just have to wait...

Five hours later, the time stoppage moved again and everyone immediately continued the fight. The leader crept behind Harold, lifted him by his jacket and pinned him down on the ground by his neck, kneeling over him. He prodded his fireball shooter into his neck.

"Mmm... barbecue." Harold looked terrified, and in those few seconds all his bravado fell away and the human fear was clearly visible. For the first time that day, he looked like a normal person, just another individual, a man with a normal life who came home from work and ate chips. A man who didn't deserve to die at the hands of a grotesque, cruel alien with a mushroom for a head brandishing a huge black weapon. He was human and alone and he was scared. Silent tears began to trickle down his cheeks. The alien gave him a leering smirk.

"Sayonara, human..." He spat loudly next to him. As he was about to pull the trigger, two things happened. One, Jackie hiding behind her tree jumped out and screamed, "NOOOOOOOO!" She was promptly picked up by four burly aliens and dragged away across the grass, kicking and screaming.

The second thing happened at exactly the same time. Everyone on the grass stopped what they were doing as they heard a whirring noise. The alien leader dropped Harold and watched in amazement as a large blue box materialised on the roof of the Houses of Parliament. In the darkening evening, it was an almost black silhouette. It appeared entirely ordinary for several seconds, until... BANG.

The double Tardis doors burst open in an explosion of light and sound, standing outside it were the Doctor and Rose, both beaming at each other, holding hands and covered in a yellow mist. A huge amount of yellow light poured out of the Tardis - they looked like angels descended straight from heaven as they lit up the rooftop around them. Having heard the Spectre leader spit on the ground the Doctor yelled down at him,

"Oi! I wouldn't spit on the human race if I were you... and I wouldn't point your little pea-shooter at us either, if you want to live." He chuckled at the leader's horrified expression.

"You're... you're dead!"

"Oh yeah? Wanna bet?" The Doctor bantered as Rose tugged on his arm.

"Erm... Theta, appearing on the roof was a great idea, but how are we gonna get down now?" She asked him telepathically.

Theta grinned at her. "I think it's time to test something... hold on."

He scooped her up into his arms suddenly, bridal style. The yellow glow increased considerably. He murmered in her ear, "Trust me." He ran with her to the edge of the roof and jumped, his coat billowing behind him as he soared down towards the ground, carrying Rose. She could feel Theta's hearts beating in her ear as they descended and decided that, even though they could be plunging to certain death, there was no place in the universe she'd rather be. She lived for danger's exhilerating adrenalin rush, exactly like Theta did.

As they neared the ground Theta bent his knees and landed firmly on both feet. Putting Rose down on the ground, he grinned at the expression on her face.

He put his hands on her shoulders. "You alright?" She nodded and he kissed her quickly.

"That was... amazing! It must've been a 50 foot fall. How did you do that?"

"I had a hunch that it would work. Time Lord and Vortex mixes must be pretty explosive. Bet you've got the same ability. Fantastic ride, wasn't it?" Rose agreed with enthusiasm and the Doctor smiled at her.

It was then that the alien leader strode towards them and spoke up. "Excuse me... VERY sorry to break this up, Doctor..."

The Doctor and Rose, in each other's arms, turned to face him, went a bright shade of crimson and broke apart immediately. The Doctor scratched behind his ear. "Yes... of course. Sorry."

The alien huffed and waved his gun around. "I'm a busy guy, and this was NOT on my schedule. As you can see, I'm in the middle of invading Earth, and I have an orthodontist appointment at 5:30... It's been a bloody awful day, terrible weather, and then YOU TWO, with the freaky box thing, so... what the hell are you doing here? You're supposed to be dead, anyway."

The Doctor gave him an exasperated glare. "You just don't get it, do you? You can't invade this planet - it's spoken for. And I'm not dead. Quite the opposite in fact. So you can tell your boss from me that he's a ritesh nastrada p'el slavak, - Rose blushed - he didn't kill me... and I WILL DEFEND THIS PLANET WITH MY LIFE. Now leave - unless you want a fight." White sparks shot out of his clenched fist as Rose told him to calm down over the link.

"We don't need you frying yourself... now shush"

The alien stared in fear at the Doctor's hand. "Geez, cool it Superman. Just doing my job..."

"Doing your job colonizing the human race..." The Doctor gave him a look of utter disgust as he shrugged.

"So are you going to fight me then? Your choice."

The alien stared at him through slitty eyes for a long moment before speaking. "No. I will not fight you, Doctor. There is no shame in cowardice - but there IS shame in defeat... which is exactly what you will suffer."

He turned to his troops. "FIGHT ON!"

As troops came running towards them, the Doctor's eyes darkened and he told Rose down the link, "This guy's smarter than I thought. He's gonna carry on the invasion, grind us down..." Rose quietly handed him the screwdriver but he pushed it back into her hand. He instructed her, "OK, you get the fun part. Take this, run off and create a diversion. I'll hold up this lot and stay alive until the diversion arrives, you get back here, gimme the screwdriver and take over. I should have enough time to think of something."

"You mean... you have absoloutely no idea how we're gonna get through this?"

"Nope..."

She laughed at him, and Theta realised she had absoloute confidence in him.

He pulled her in and kissed her passionately for the last time. He groaned as Rose slipped her tongue into his mouth and ran her fingers through his hair, completely lost in the moment. The world could have ended then and there and he'd never have noticed. The yellow mist had begun forming again in large quantities, but luckily he regained control just in time. He pushed her away quickly before he lost all coherent thought, gave her a dazzling smile, and ran with a roar into the mob of aliens, to join the armed forces. After a minute, Rose sprinted away, an idea in her head.

She needed to get higher, she realised. She needed a vantage point, to find something big enough to be used as a distraction. A double-decker bus was standing alone in the middle of the road, peppered with bullets and charred to a cinder. It was perfect - just the right height to gaze around and see if there was anything suitably dangerous/noticeable to distract a huge alien army. But how to get up there? Wait... maybe it was time for her to test something. She bent her knees and leaped vertically upwards, like a spring uncoiling. She managed to get far enough to touch the ceiling of the bus with her fingertips, and on her second attempt she got it and managed to scramble onto the roof. Glancing around, she saw the sky full of military helicopters, the alien spaceship parked only about a mile away, all the regular famous buildings on the skyline... Her eye was caught by the London Eye, whirling around like crazy and still spewing flames into the air. Perfect. But how to get there? She reckoned she knew the geography well enough to get herself there, the question was how... She could see a motorbike turned on its side in the darkness. Jumping off the bus - with a perfect landing - she set the bike upright and turned on the ignition. A furious revving sound blasted from it and Rose grinned before jumping aboard and hitting the accelerator.

Meanwhile, the Doctor ducked, punched and kicked like crazy on the field, while his brain was whirring overtime. There had to be some weakness in their defences that he could manipulate to terrify them so much that they left the planet. Ordinary fighting just wouldn't work under the circumstances - as much as he loved the stupid apes, they stood almost no chance against a huge alien force. He hoped Rose's diversion was a good one cos he needed as much time as possible if he was gonna find a soloution to this one. However, for the first time since the Time War he had reason to be optimistic when fighting for his life. Now, he had the power of the Time Vortex - and more importantly, he had Rose.

As he fought through the huge wave of aliens, the Doctor spotted Harold fighting a few metres away. Seeing him, Harold ducked to avoid rifle fire and ran over to him, dragging him away from the huge main war that was raging.

"Doctor! You know our Rose, don't ya? Please, you've gotta save Jackie!"

"Jackie? She's in danger?"

Harold nodded miserably. "She got dragged away by some of those aliens a while ago... and I don't know what they've done with her. Doctor - you've gotta help me!"

The Doctor nodded, taking stock of the situation. "Right - did you see which direction they took her in?" As Harold pointed, the aliens noticed them standing alone and fired at them. The Doctor grabbed Harold and dragged him off to save Jackie.

As Rose's motorbike soared at breakneck speed down the broad streets towards the London Eye, she found herself suddenley in the front line of alien firing practice. She watched in absoloute terror as flaming bullets hammered into the ground in front of her. Purple-blue sparks erupted from her fingers - physical fear. She shuddered and wished she knew how to control it - a nervous breakdown was NOT the best plan of action right now. Thinking fast, she dived behind a rubbish truck which lay displaced on the edge of the road. There was a huge mass of rubbish in the skip at the back, and it gave her an idea. A terrible idea, but it had to be done, she told herself firmly. Setting the heap on fire with the sonic screwdriver, she got into the truck, set the steering on super-fast reverse and jumped clear. The truck zoomed into the mass of aliens that were firing at her, and crashed into them in an explosion of flaming refuse that blasted the aliens from all sides. Hearing them screaming and trying to scrape the burning refuse out of their eyes, she let the slient tears fall before pushing it to the back of her mind as she ran back into the road, grabbed her bike, which was miraculously unharmed, and zoomed off again into the distance.

She arrived minutes later at the London Eye, still whirling around on fire like a fairground ride from hell. She imagined the absoloute chaos it would cause on the ground, and wondered how she was gonna get it down. Getting closer, she could see that the fire was so hot it had burnt through almost all the support structures, and there was only one still standing. She aimed the sonic screwdriver at the support, and an intense blue blow-torch beam shot from the end, cutting through the metal like a knife through butter. Within seconds, the entire structure was free, and Rose zoomed clear as the giant rotating wheel hurtled down towards the centre of the battle. Grinning, she waited a few seconds before following it. The alien horde were in for surprise...

The Doctor and Harold jogged side by side through a large park, following scuff marks and fragments of torn clothing that indicated an impressive struggle. Jackie hadn't gone down without a fight. Noticing the anguish Harold was going through, the Doctor decided to try and talk to him, to calm him down. It was then that he noticed how much he had changed - he would never have done that before... before he met Rose, he realised.

"So how do you know Jackie?"

Harold looked up at him, and smiled. "Been living 'round 'er place for... 'bout 3 months now. She looked so lonely. Said her daughter was going travelling, so I moved in, just to keep her company, like. But she means the world to me. I... erm... meant to propose to her tonight, actually. Take her to the cinema an' all, you know... until this happened." He looked miserable, then cheered up a bit as he remembered something.

"I take it you and Rose are an item, then?" he winked at the Doctor, who grinned.

"Yeah - at last." He turned a deathly pale. "But don't tell Jackie..."

Harold smirked knowingly. "All of us fear the Tyler slap, mate - you included."

The Doctor agreed fervently, then decided to satisfy his curiosity. "You know, I still don't have a clue - what are you doing here?"

Harold proceeded to give him an amusing narrative of everything that had happened since Rose arrived on Earth - by the end of it, the Doctor was looking at him in amazement. This ordinary guy had risked his life, time and again, to save the world. Turned hero in one day. But that was why he found himself so attatched to humans, Doctor supposed.

"What was your name again?"

"Harold - Harold Wilson."

"Harold Wilson... I like you."

At that moment, they came to a clearing manned by several alien guards. Ducking behind a tree, the two of them watched. Jackie was tied to a tree, with a gag around her mouth. Despite this, they could clearly hear her expletives and furious yells as one of the captives held his flame-shooter at her throat and jeered at her.

"For such a pretty woman it's a shame you're gonna die so soon."

They heard a muffled response from the gag. "Why... didn't you kill me... straight away?"

The alien laughed and stroked her cheek sickeningly. "Pathetic human as you are, we need you darlin'. When we find that fighter boyfriend of yours, he'll have no choice but to surrender to us, if he wants to see you alive again." He laughed cruelly as Jackie fought to hold back the tears. The Doctor had to hold Harold back by his jacket to prevent him from launching himself at Jackie's captors.

That was when they heard the wooshing sound in the distance. Getting louder and louder all the time, the Doctor pulled Harold out of the way as he gazed at the spectacular sight of the London Eye, burning brightly, hurtling through Central London. It had picked up several trees and cars on its way, which added to the fuel, and was now an absoloutely terrifying sight. Judging by the sounds coming from the green, it had caused quite a commotion. Oh, his Rose was brilliant, he thought. This was a distraction and a half. Absoloutely marvellous. He watched the huge wheel drive through the guards, narrowly miss Jackie, and carry on soaring through the park, heading straight for their spaceship. The aliens weren't gonna be bothering THEM anytime soon.

Running to the tree where Jackie was tied up, the Doctor had the bands undone in an instant, and while Harold hugged Jackie - "Jackie! Oh Jacks - I was so worried!" , the Doctor pointed into the distance.

"Look!"

Zooming rapidly towards them was a black silhouette on a motorbike, and as it drew closer they saw Rose on board, with a huge grin on her face. Halting the bike just in front of them, she dismounted with a flourish and was enveloped in the Doctor's arms within seconds. They were interrupted by Jackie, who cleared her throat with a furious expression on her face.

"What exactly is going on here? You two!"

Rose smirked as the Doctor paled and stammered, "Er... well..." He mumbled something, turned bright red and looked at his converses. He looked so cute when he was blushing, thought Rose.

She decided to take charge. "Right, Mum, you and Harold get on this thing and get out of here. The army have managed to contain the invasion, look, the quarantine boder's just over there. The Doctor and I will sort this mess out. Off you go!"

Jackie grumbled, "Do I have to? My stomach can't stand any more of his driving... OK, OK!" She relented when she saw the look on Rose's face.

Watching the two of them fade into the distance, zig-zagging worriedly from side to side, and they could distinctly hear Jackie screaming her lungs out at Harold as he narrowly avoided a tree. They both turned away from the spectacle, shaking their heads, and burst out laughing at exactly the same time. Rose put her hands on hips and turned to face Theta.

"So... got any bright ideas?"

"No... well, I was saving your mum half the time..." He looked sheepish.

"Maybe you're losing your touch!" He now looked extremely affronted.

"Well really... tell me everything you know about commercial cloning."

"What?"

"Come on!" he said impatiently. "This army all look identical, haven't you noticed that? They must've all been grown by the Spectral leader at some point, who by the way is inorganic, made of light." He showed her a quick mental image of the Spectre, looking absoloutely terrifying, as always. Rose shuddered. The Doctor had actually stood up to that thing?

"You've got the knowledge, it's all there, in your head, from the joining... thing. Help me out here!"

"Well, they're all identical, so they've all got pretty much the same properties..."

"Anything different about these ones though?"

"Oh wait, hang on... the Genesis planet has no water, and very little wind, so the clones were made without a fully functional skin - just armoured plates on their bodies over their flesh, totally prorus. They're advanced identical copies with working minds. They're basically emotionless but other than that they're alive. But without skin. So..."

The Doctor stared at her and then began jumping up and down with excitement. "So... oh of course! Osmosis! Fantastic! You know skin acts as a barrier against excess water transfer, right? Too much and every cell in your body swells up until you burst. Well, cos this planet's mainly water, we've got a defence mechanism, but the aliens haven't! Expose them to too much water and they'll burst, their cells won't be able to take it. They can't climb stairs or trees to avoid the flood 'cos their bodies are only made to survive the exact pressure at ground level. Climb all the way up a flight of stairs, the pressure's too low and they're toast! And even better, their bodies've all been cheaply designed, they're just cannon fodder, that's why there's so many of them. You lose one, there's loads more to take it's place. Mass production - as you would say, made in China! But they never saw through the one weakness - they're all exactly the same! Hah!"

He picked up Rose and swung her around, delighted, then stopped.

"But... how do we flood almost the whole of Central London!"

Rose looked up at a helicopter buzzed overhead. "Let's go have a chat with the RAF!"

"Yeah!" yelled Theta. He bent down and kissed her on the lips, took her hand and ran off with her towards the army, which was present in large numbers on the nearby border.

After much explaining, discussion and deliberation, the army still were not prepared to "waste" their pilots bombing the quarantined area with water. "London's only just above sea level, we CAN do this! It's a small area, near the Thames, it's high tide!"

"Maybe, but you'll need every jet we've got in the country... we just can't let our entire air force into the hands of strangers..."

"Look, we're trying to save the world here, a little co-operation would be nice..." began the Doctor angrily, but the army commander refused to listen.

Positively seething, Rose watched as white sparks shot from her fingertips, and quickly dunked her hand in a jug of water that happened to be nearby. To her surprise, it came out smoking.

Theta was fighting down laughter at the expression on the army commander's face as he gawped at Rose's still smoking hand.

"Y-You can h-have whatever you want!" he choked out, stepping back a few paces. He reached for his whistle and blew it.

"Seargent Jackson? Give them command of the entire Air Force! Yes I mean the whole lot! The works!"

The Doctor beamed. "Let's get this show on the road!"

Rose glared at him. "How many times have I told you - NEVER use the cliches!"

"... Sorry."

One long and frustrating hour later, Theta and Rose had managed to get all the fighter jets full of water and ready to dive-bomb the city. All the jets were in position, and they managed to scramble aboard a small helicopter with the RAF commander, who brought along a large megaphone.

As their little helicopter followed the planes, Rose noticed that her diversion had set the alien base on fire, and grinned. The chopper swooped down as low as possible over the Houses of Parliament, they instantly observed the crowd of people and aliens, all of whom had now partially recovered from the burning London Eye and were back at each other's throats. The commander cleared his throat and advised Theta and Rose to cover their ears before roaring into the megaphone.

"I ADDRESS THIS MESSAGE TO ALL HUMANKIND - CLIMB THE STAIRS OF THE NEAREST BUILDING YOU CAN FIND. LONDON WILL BE FLOODED HALFWAY TO THE ROOFTOPS. I REPEAT - LONDON WILL BE FLOODED. CLIMB THE NEAREST FLIGHT OF STAIRS YOU CAN FIND, YOU'VE ALL GOTTA GET TO THE ROOF, MOVE IT!"

Repeating this message over and over again as they whirred through the sky, the fighter jets began bombing and huge waves of water began pooling in Parliament Square, Hyde Park, began lapping around the base of Big Ben. All the people began ascending the stairs as quickly as possible - the aliens shot at them, but could only kill so many - the majority of people made a successful dash for high ground, and soon thousands of people were standing on the many rooftops of office buildings in London, the aliens powerless to stop them. The old, the young, the children - human beings, battered and soaking wet but alive, were standing on rooftops all over the centre of London. The sight was truly beautiful. Theta yelled in pure joy and hugged Rose as the water level rose steadily.

After a few minutes, the water level had risen around seven feet, and Theta told the army commander to let them off the helicopter onto the roof of the Houses of Parliament. They descended via a rope ladder and touched down onto the roof, near the Tardis, which had waited for them patiently all afternoon. As the helicopter began to move away, Theta cupped his hands to his mouth and roared to the commander,

"Thank you so much! Goodbye!" The commander smiled at them and began his shouting again as the helicopter took off again. Theta gave Rose a dazzling smile as the planes re-appeared and drenched them in freezing water. Now soaking wet, Theta brushed his hair out of his eyes and took Rose into his arms.

"Rose Tyler, we did it! We saved the world!"

As the voiceover from the helicopter stopped, relative quiet was observed on the rooftops. The Doctor looked around at all the people around him. He took Rose's hand and yelled as loud as he could.

"EVERYONE LISTEN UP!"

Everyone on the rooftops turned to face him. There was complete silence as he spoke the words he had to say.

"LONDON SAVED THE WORLD TODAY. WE SHOULD BE PROUD!"

As the crowd heard this simple speech, an enormous cheer erupted from the roofs. All over London people were cheering this mysterious man, who came out of nowhere in a strange blue box and saved the planet. He turned to Rose, pure happiness on his face, and kissed her passionately, this time allowing himself to lose his mind in the intoxicating yellow mist and sparks that darted around them. He stroked Rose's hair gently as she put her arms around his neck and sighed into his mouth. It was a long time before they pulled away.

Resting her head against Theta's chest, Rose put her arms around his neck as Theta's hands rested on her waist. The two travellers stayed like that for some time, in total contentment.

Suddenely, Theta remembered the aliens. "Oh, Rose, wait for it... should be any second now..."

Puzzled, Rose looked up at him, then lost her footing as a mighty bang resounded aound the city. Theta caught her quickly before she could fall and grinned.

"Multiple cell degeneration." he explained. "Every single clone destroyed in the same instant." Yellow sparks suddenley shot out of the water around them and went high up into the air, where they exploded."

"Fireworks?" Theta laughed. "Not quite. Gases excreted from the cells. Water-resistant, anti-gravity and react rather explosiveley with air."

"They're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

Theta's face softened as he looked at her. "Oh, I don't know..."

As her face lit up, he kissed her again and smiled. This was too good to be true. He couldn't possibly be destined for such happiness - could he?

"Have I thanked you yet for the idea? Genius!" Rose smiled as they were drenched again by another torrent of water.

"Couldn't have done it without you." The yellow haze was getting stronger and stronger. They held hands and watched the last of the fireworks set in the night sky together. It was very late and the stars were already twinkling above them. Despite being wet, cold and exhausted, they were desperately in love, and in their eyes, this was the most romantic place in the universe.

Rose kissed Theta's neck softly. "Theta... I love you so much."

He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed it, drawing her closer.

"Rose... I love you too."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There we are folks! Hope you liked the ending of the first half! Please please I am begging you guys to review you. If you have never reviewed before click that button now, go on... you guys are all fantastic... What more can I say? Thank You.


End file.
